Tatiana the tigress

San Francisco, Dec. 28 (AP):The last minutes of a 17-year-old boy’s life were spent trying to save his friend from a brutal mauling by Tatiana the tigress at the San Francisco zoo, only to have the animal turn on him, police and family members said.

Carlos Sousa Jr. and his friend’s brother desperately tried to distract the 159-kg Siberian tigress, but the big cat instead came after Sousa.

“He didn’t run. He tried to help his friend, and it was him who ended up getting it the worst,” the teen’s father, Carlos Sousa Sr, said yesterday.

The heroic portrait of Sousa and a timeline of the dramatic attack emerged as officials revealed that the tigress’s escape from its enclosure may have been aided by walls that were well below the height recommended by the accrediting agency for the nation’s zoos. San Francisco zoo director Manuel A. Mollinedo acknowledged that the wall around the animal’s pen was just 3.8 metres high, after previously saying it was 5.5 metres.

According to the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, the walls around a tigress exhibit should be at least 5 metres high. Mollinedo said it was becoming increasingly clear the tigress leaped or climbed out, perhaps by grabbing onto a ledge.

Four-year-old Tatiana went on a rampage on Tuesday, killing Sousa and severely injuring two others before it was shot to death by police.

Brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, were at San Francisco General Hospital with severe bite and claw wounds.

Police said Kulbir was the animal’s first victim. As the tiger clawed and bit him, Sousa and the younger brother yelled in hopes of scaring it off him, police said. The cat then went for Sousa, slashing his neck as the brothers ran to a zoo cafe for help.

After killing the teenager, the tiger followed a trail of blood left by Kulbir Dhaliwal about 274 metres to the cafe, where it mauled both men, police said.